Men Sentenced for Driving Around with Friend’s Corpse, Running Up Bar Tab

Pals given two year's probation

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This combination made with photos provided by the Denver Police on Friday, Sept. 16 2011 shows Mark Rubinson, 25, left, and Robert Young, 43. They were sentenced to probation for driving around with the corpse of their dead friend.

Updated at 8:17 AM CDT on Friday, Mar 9, 2012

In an apparent real-life version of “Weekend at Bernie’s,” two Denver men were sentenced to probation for driving around town with their friend’s corpse in their car and running a bar tab on his account.

Robert Young and Mark Rubinson were given two years of probation in connection with the death of 43-year-old Jeffrey Jarrett. They also must perform community service and pay restitution.

They had pleaded guilty to abusing a corpse, with Young also pleading guilty to identity theft.

Authorities said the two went to Jarrett's home in August and found him unresponsive. Instead of calling police, Young and Rubinson put him in a car and went out. They used his credit card to pay for drinks.

Young was accussed of withdrawing $400 from Jarrett’s ATM card at a local strip club before alerting an officer that their friend might be dead, the TV station 7News reported.

Young said he thought Jarrett was drunk, not deceased.

Jarrett had died of drug intoxication, with alcohol, cocaine and prescription drugs in his system, the coroner’s office told 7News.

Denver District Court Judge Brian Whitney said he could have given Young a harsher sentence, but the victim’s family had “given you the opportunity to change yourself,” 7News reported.

In the 1989 film “Weekend at Bernie’s,” two friends pretend that their murdered boss is alive while at his beach house on a weekend vacation.